With research showing harmful effects of marijuana on developing adolescent brains, Ottawa should tread carefully in how it legalizes the drug, including consideration of a high minimum age for usage, a panel on substance abuse said Friday. Two members of a panel speaking in Calgary said updated research about the ways regular marijuana use negatively affects adolescents in numerous ways should colour the debate over the cannabis legalization promised by the new Liberal government. Knowledge that cannabis affects the developing brain until age 25 should influence any legalization age restrictions, said Dr. Philip Tibbo, director of the Nova Scotia Early Psychosis program. [continues 140 words]
Government Should Look Closely at Research Before Deciding to Legalize Marijuana Use With research showing harmful effects of marijuana on developing adolescent brains, Ottawa should tread carefully in how it legalizes the drug, including considering a high minimum age for usage, a panel on substance abuse said Friday. Two members of a panel speaking in Calgary said updated research about how regular marijuana use negatively affects adolescents many ways should colour the debate over the cannabis legalization. Knowledge cannabis affects the developing brain until age 25 should influence legalization age restrictions, said Dr. Philip Tibbo, director of the Nova Scotia Early Psychosis program. [continues 123 words]
Cannabis should be sold over the counter in plain packaging in specialist, licensed shops to over-18s only, according to an expert panel set up by the Liberal Democrats to examine what a regulated cannabis market in Britain should look like. They suggest cannabis should be sold in three strengths - lower, medium and higher - in prescription medicine-style resealable childproof containers with a health warning. The panel also recommends that smallscale licensed "cannabis social clubs" should be set up, and that home-grown cultivation of up to four plants for personal use should be allowed. [continues 346 words]
Says marijuana should be sold in stand-alone stores IT has been a year since CEO John Stinson advised the board of Manitoba Liquor & Lotteries, which had just hired him, that legalized pot was coming, and the Crown corporation better be prepared for it. And now it's been a week since Stinson visited Denver to get the lowdown on Colorado's legalized marijuana high. Which is how the CEO of our pot supplier-designate came to offer a one-on-one briefing about the surprise he got on the trip. [continues 791 words]
Recreational Use of Cannabis Is Likely to Be Legal in 2017 If We're Going to Allow It to Be Sold Here, We Need Serious Rules There Are Advantages but Significant Dangers That Must Be Talked Through Let's start with the assumption that recreational use of marijuana will be entirely legal by this time next year. Let's also assume that budding entrepreneurs in Modesto, Atwater, Ripon, Ceres, Turlock and every other city in the northern San Joaquin Valley will be eager to put their wares in front of customers. [continues 921 words]
Peer-Reviewed Research Found Cannabis Helped Depressed People Re: Pot has drawbacks, Letters, March 2 Reefer madness and anti-pot propaganda still make the rounds, even as legalization policies and unbiased research are underway. It's important to look at the scientific facts about marijuana use, rather than get caught up in fear and emotional reactions. Andre Piver wrote about the use of marijuana being harmful for the emotional development of the brain, but did not cite any evidence. In contrast to his claims, a recent study on teenage marijuana users over a two-decade period determined that marijuana use does not cause depression, anxiety or psychosis (University of Pittsburgh Medical Center and Rutgers University, 2015 report). [continues 103 words]
Fentanyl and Oxycodone May Be Getting the Headlines, but the Use of Cheap and Available Speed Is Soaring Dean Foggin sits on the edge of his single bed, winter sunlight streaming through the window onto the white walls, his white robe, white slippers. It is his fifth time checking into this detox facility and, God willing, his last. "I hope this time it sticks, or I don't know what's going to happen," says Mr. Foggin, 53. His shoulders are slight and he speaks at an accelerated pace. "I'm pretty much ready to give up. If I can't make it this time, I'm just not going to try any more." [continues 1299 words]
Medical Officer of Health in Favour of Legalization, but With Controls to Reduce Risks The Grey-Bruce medical officer of health wants controls placed on the sale of marijuana to protect the public, particularly young people. Dr. Hazel Lynn presented a report on the issue to the board of health Friday. Later she told reporters she personally supports legalization of marijuana, along with "a regulatory system that reduces the risk." Her recommendations were drawn from the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health's policy framework. [continues 513 words]
Leading public-health and addiction specialists are condemning plans by Canada's largest drugstore chain to investigate the idea of selling marijuana, calling it a profit-motivated move that would have devastating effects. The Globe and Mail reported on Tuesday that Shoppers Drug Mart is exploring the possibility of selling marijuana in its stores. According to people involved in the discussions, the company has held meetings with licensed medical-marijuana producers. It also has not ruled out a move into selling marijuana for recreational purposes. Currently, pharmacies are not permitted to sell medical marijuana, but the federal government has promised to legalize the drug, which could open the market. [continues 518 words]
DENVER (AP) - Colorado's tourists aren't just buying weed now that it's legal - they're ending up in emergency rooms at rates far higher than residents, a study said. Doctors reviewed marijuana-related emergency-room admissions at a hospital near Denver International Airport during 2014, when the sale of recreational pot became legal. The results were published Thursday in the New England Journal of Medicine. The physicians found that the rate of emergency-room visits possibly related to marijuana doubled among out-of-state residents in the first year of recreational pot sales. The rate went from 85 per 10,000 visits in 2013 to 168 per 10,000 visits in 2014. [continues 242 words]
With legalization on the horizon, there is mounting evidence that early and frequent cannabis use can have a devastating long-term impact on teenage brains. Researchers and officials with the Canadian Centre on Substance Abuse held a public forum and met with staff from Ottawa Public Health on Monday in an effort to get the message out that marijuana is not benign, especially not for adolescents. As marijuana moves to the front of public policy agendas in Canada and elsewhere, CCSA officials say it is important to better understand recent evidence about its impact on youth. [continues 551 words]
They promised it during the election campaign and again in the throne speech. They've even got a former cop, Bill Blair, to head up the process. Yet there's little evidence so far the federal Liberals are paying much attention to the dangers marijuana legalization will pose to the young. As experts told a public forum in Ottawa this week, marijuana is downright unhealthy for the adolescent brain. More and more evidence suggests cognitive damage for youths who use it often, and the younger they are, the worse that damage is. [continues 262 words]
New research published Wednesday in the journal JAMA Psychiatry found that using marijuana as an adult is not associated with a variety of mood and anxiety disorders, including depression and bipolar disorder. This is a challenge to some previous research that has shown that marijuana use is associated with depression and anxiety. The researchers examined the records of nearly 35,000 U.S. adults who participated in the National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions. The study did find an association between marijuana use and later substance use disorders, such as abuse of alcohol, tobacco, marijuana and other drugs. But this isn't necessarily surprising: It's fairly obvious that if you use a substance, you're putting yourself at risk of a substance-use disorder. The new study does not address a previously observed link between heavy marijuana use and schizophrenia. [end]
Cannabis can be used to treat more than 40 different medical conditions Montreal's first medical cannabis clinic, which opened in 2014 at its location on Amherst Street, provides a clean, modern environment where patients can get prescriptions and support in moving away from pharmaceutical drugs. Two glass cases stand in the window, showing off a variety of vaporizers of all shapes and sizes. Medical marijuana is expected to impact the future of health and affect pharmaceutical companies. Sante Cannabis does not directly distribute cannabis to patients, but has nine part-time physicians to assess patients on their eligibility to receive a medical marijuana prescription. [continues 863 words]
Dear Stoner: Does marijuana help with depression? Searching Dear Searching: Unfortunately, the answer is not a simple yes or no. There's such a wide range of studies on the subject that trying to wrap your head around it can make your hair fall out - or leave you more depressed. A survey of 4,400 adults that was funded by the Marijuana Policy Project indicated that regular and occasional marijuana users had more positive moods and fewer somatic complaints than non-users, but it also found medical users to be more depressed than recreational users. Other published studies have shown marijuana smokers to be diagnosed with depression more often and to be more at risk for schizophrenia or psychosis than non-smokers, but doctors don't agree on whether marijuana is the cause of a patient's depression or just that patient's preferred method of self-medication. [continues 269 words]
Recently I read a national article about a medical team that looked the other way while a patient was smoking marijuana in the bathroom. On a closer reading of the article, the medical case was from over 20 years ago. First mistake: not doing the math (we'll get to this in a minute). Second mistake: concluding that the answer is "medical" marijuana. Did you know that the two major compounds that are medicinal in marijuana are already 100 percent legal here in Kentucky? [continues 557 words]
HALIFAX - At a Halifax skate park last summer, Philip Tibbo's 14-year-old son was told by a group of older teenagers that marijuana is natural and no harm would come of using it. It's one of many myths about cannabis circulating amongst Canadian youths today, said Tibbo, a professor at Dalhousie University's Department of Psychiatry. "I asked him if many people were smoking (at the skate park) today. And he said, 'Yes, but they're all saying it's harmless. That it doesn't do anything to you,'" said Tibbo. [continues 452 words]
HALIFAX - As the federal government ponders how to carry out a promise to legalize marijuana, the arms-length agency that studies addiction is embarking on a four-city tour to spread warnings about the effects of the drug on young people. The Canadian Centre on Substance Abuse opens the tour in Halifax on Friday with a panel of three experts who contributed to a report released in June that addressed the issue of cannabis use in adolescence. Dr. Amy Porath-Waller, the centre's director of research and policy, characterizes the timing of the sessions as a bit of "serendipity" given the Liberal government's December throne speech in which it pledged to "legalize, regulate and restrict access to marijuana." [continues 376 words]
Panel to Begin Tour in Halifax As the federal government ponders how to carry out a promise to legalize marijuana, the arms-length agency that studies addiction is embarking on a four-city tour to spread warnings about the effects of the drug on young people. The Canadian Centre on Substance Abuse opens the tour in Halifax on Friday with a panel of three experts who contributed to a report released in June that addressed the issue of cannabis use in adolescence. [continues 326 words]
Western Researchers Found Marijuana Poses Serious Consequences for Teens, but Not Adults Turns out getting stoned on marijuana carries much more dire consequences for teenagers than for adults -- at least if you're a rat and part of a new study released Monday by researchers in London. Researchers at Western University's Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry have published a study that shows that the psychoactive component of marijuana caused long-term harm on the adolescent brains of rats, producing changes similar to what is found in schizophrenia. [continues 301 words]
